When it comes to winning internet approval, excessive popularity can be too much of a good thing.
The Wuthering Heights (2026) trailer from director Emerald Fennell is facing backlash for diverging too much from its source, the novel by Emily Brontë. For audiences that have yet to see the film, this negative reaction is part of the internet’s broader tendency to scorn things when they become too popular and therefore uncool.
Critics have taken aim at the film’s cultural positioning. One viral post on X quipped that the film’s trendy cast and soundtrack make it feel more like an internet fad than a gothic romance, grouping it with overhyped staples like matcha tea, Labubu dolls, and Dubai chocolate.
The popularity of these individual elements in Fennell’s Wuthering Heights seems designed to generate online buzz. Yet their very overexposure has turn them into cultural clichés, making them feel more undesirable than exciting.
The New Yorker calls overused internet slang “IRL Brain Rot,” noting how certain terms become inseparable from online culture. Words repeated endlessly in posts turn into buzzwords that become parody fleeting, hyper-artificial microtrends. Wuthering Heights can become a target for “IRL Brain Rot” because so many of its elements have morphed into cultural buzzwords.
Jacob Elordi, who first went viral for his breakout role in HBO’s Euphoria (2019), stars as Heathcliff. Margot Robbie plays Catherine., tying the film to the legacy of Barbie (2023)—a movie that briefly influenced fashion and online culture before its popularity faded in in 2024. Meanwhile, Charli XCX’s, whose Grammy-winning album Brat has dominated pop culture into 2025, provides the soundtrack, extending the lineage of trend-driven cultural moments.
Simply put, too many aspects of Wuthering Heights have already been too popular online, limiting their success as viral marketing tactics. The film relies on a popular marketing strategy aimed at younger audiences: leveraging what’s already viral to drive engagement. Crumbl Cookie used the same strategy this past summer when it partnered with singer Benson Boone on a limited-edition dessert, a collaboration so successful it had to be extended.
However, Boone and Crumbl succeeded where Wuthering Heights hasn’t by turning controversy into popularity. Boone was already folded into “IRL Brain Rot” before the partnership, often mocked online for his artistic persona. The collaboration only fueled the jokes—“moonbeam ice cream cookie brain rot” quickly became a top search term on TikTok.
Boone’s rejection from trend overload boosted his popularity. Mocking him became part of “IRL Brain Rot” culture itself—an irony that turned ridicule into recognition. This reflects an emerging pattern in which controversy doesn’t damage internet approval, but instead strengthens it for both brands and individuals.
Wuthering Heights has stumbled in its attempt to turn virality into excitement, while brands like Crumbl have shown how controversy can translate into success. If online backlash now carries the potential to boost cultural relevance, it’s possible that the very criticism dragging Wuthering Heights could end up driving its box office performance.
Tags
Internet, micro-trends, Pop Culture, Wuthering Heights
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